


Nightbrother

by The_Dark_Lord_of_Dragon_Kind



Series: Spooky Wars [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Dark Magic, DarksiderMagic, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, No Beta, The major character death is a good and happy one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:43:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27198002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Dark_Lord_of_Dragon_Kind/pseuds/The_Dark_Lord_of_Dragon_Kind
Summary: After clashing with Obi-wan Kenobi for the first time since he was defeated on Naboo, Darth Maul retreats back home to Dathomir, cursing his own weakness. But Savage has a suggestion that might just play to Maul’s hidden strengths: Nightsister magic.
Relationships: Darth Maul & Savage Opress
Series: Spooky Wars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987552
Comments: 10
Kudos: 77
Collections: Spooky Wars Week





	Nightbrother

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the Spooky Wars Week Challenge.
> 
> Today's prompt is Darkside Magic.

The ship set down with a horrible sense of finality under the red sun. When they left, the ship had a cockpit and more goods on board. But now, it was broken, almost entirely useless. No matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to totally fix the ship.

“Brother?” Savage asked.

“Yes, apprentice?” Maul answered.

“The Nightsisters had strange powers,” Savage said with his slow rumbling voice. “Perhaps we could use that to get your revenge.”

“I am supposed to be a fighter,” Maul snarled. “What use am I if I can’t even kill my enemies in battle?”

“I thought the Sith were supposed to seek power, no matter its form,” Savage said, and Maul could tell that he was sincerely confused. “No one can tell you not to seek the power of the Nightsisters. Mother Talzin will not stop you, I think.”

Maul hissed at his brother and began pacing. It was true, he supposed, that the most powerful Sith had always delved into darkside magic as well as more simple techniques used by warriors. But this was what his master had taught him… His master. His master had been the one to dismiss Sith Alchemy and Sorcery, and punish Maul after he tried to learn about it on one mission. His master, Maul guessed, had likely studied both anyways, even though he was gaining most of his power through politics. Why did Maul care about what was honorable or not? He was Sith. A Sith who had, apparently, been so dumb that he had believed his master’s every word. His master had stopped Maul from achieving his full potential.

“You have a point,” Maul growled. “A good one. We shall see what we can do through Nightsister magics. And perhaps, if this is powerful enough, I will use the magic to attack Darth Sidious, instead of Kenobi.”

  
  


  
  


  
  


No one but the Vode noticed the first time it happened; when something large, heavy and not-quite-there landed on an odd bit of architecture in the Senate Dome. The clones realized what was happening in an instant – an attack.

What-ever-it-was jumped again, and Commander Fox tracked the barely visible disturbance and ordered one of his brothers – a sniper and an excellent shot – to take a shot if he could.

Silence fell as the blaster bolt shot out of the upper parts of the Dome and hit something in midair.

“Evacuate the Senators!” Fox yelled as the thing fell below the Chancellor's podium and started climbing, seemingly unfazed by the blaster bolt. By that point, the Senate Dome had become loud again as the Senators and their aids panicked. It was becoming ever more obvious that something was wrong: the threat was ripping into the Chancellor's podium’s column in order, it seemed, to make handholds as it climbed.

Blaster fire was not slowing it down at all, but the illusion that had kept the treat invisible was flickering, showing the armored black hide of a large, deadly creature.

“Sidious!” a voice boomed, the roar far too deep and inhuman to have come from any humanoid. The illusion dropped, just as the last of the senators left the Dome, pushing and shoving. The illusion left behind a massive beast with blue and black hide with a disturbing amount of natural armor. But the eyes were what caught Fox’s attention and held it: they were made of poisonous green smoke or vapor which trailed from its eyes.

Fox had sent some Vode to evacuate the Chancellor and his advisers, but the beast with green eyes was almost upon them. It might get its target after all, Fox thought. But the Chancellor jumped, quickly followed by the beast.

They both landed safely, the Chancellor landing the way Jedi would after jumping that far, not even hurt.

“Lower levels, retreat,” Fox ordered, operating entirely on instinct. He didn’t know what was happening, but he did know that this was something that the Jedi, not his Vode, should deal with.

The beast lunged at the Chancellor, and Fox knew there would be no escape for the Chancellor, not even if he were a Jedi, but something worse happened. Fox had heard the stories, of course, from the front, of Dooku, when he chose to engage. Sometimes he would use Sith Lightning, and every Vod had heard those stories. Every Vod knew what it looked like. Every Vod could recognize it.

Sith Lightning, apparently, could slow the beast, even though blaster bolts couldn’t.

“Hold fire,” Fox ordered, and watched grimly as the storm of bolts which had been ineffectually raining down on the beast halted immediately. “Inform the Jedi council that Chancellor Palpatine is now a suspected Sith Lord.” Fox didn’t know what to do. Every Vod knew that the Sith were evil, that the Sith were enemies. But this was the Chancellor of the Republic. The Chancellor was a Sith. Fox hoped the Jedi showed up soon and that they would know what to do. But more and more, it seemed like this battle was the center of the universe. Would anything that happened here really effect the outside? Fox’s head was growing a bit fuzzy.

“Sidious!” the beast screamed again, circling the Chancellor. (And didn’t that sound like a Sith Lord’s name? Sidious? Darth Sidious? Did it really matter?) “You will regret leaving me to rot on that trash world! You will regret keeping me from my true potential!”

“I regret nothing but leaving you alive, Maul,” the Chancellor sneered. “And I will regret nothing after killing you.” The Chancellor of the Galactic Republic threw some more Sith Lightning.

The beast laughed and shook it off. It lunged again, but did not let up this time, forcing Sidous – Palpatine – to jump out of its way again and again until the human ignited a red lightsaber and jumped at the beast. It was the beast, this time, that dodged the Chancellor’s strike but the beast did not retreat.

“I could have lead the Separatists just as well,” the beast growled as the two combatants circled. “That Dooku is not as loyal to you as I was. And if you had allowed me to play to my strengths, I could have made the Jedi believe I was the Sith Master. But no. You had to go and train that weakling.”

“He is stronger than you, Maul,” the Chancellor sneered. “And he will not betray me for a while yet. Not until my next apprentice is ready.”

“Skywalker,” the beast stated, hatefully. “You’ve been obsessed since he was nine years old, and a newly freed slave. Did you start manipulating him then, after he saved your planet from the invasion you made?”

The Chancellor started to answer, but stopped himself.

“More darkside magic,” the Chancellor snarled. “You were clouding my senses and my mind.” He looked around furiously and sent lightning at the news droids that Fox was only just now noticing.

“Chancellor,” a smooth voice drew Fox’s attention away from the duel to the three Jedi masters who had just walked into the Senate Dome. “I don’t suppose everyone will surrender peacefully?” General Kenobi smiled innocently from where he stood to the left of General Yoda.

“This was your plan,” the Chancellor snarled. “To get the Jedi to arrest me!” He spun on the Jedi and threw lightning at them. General Yoda caught the lightning in his hands, creating a strange green orb in each hand and defending both General Kenobi and General Windu.

“Not quite,” the beast said softly, with an almost gentle cruelty. Fox wasn’t sure what happened next, but the beast moved forward, loosing its shape to utterly envelope the Sith Lord. Everything seemed frozen as they listened to a disturbing and drawn out scream that came from within the liquid shadow, which shook and shivered. After a long time, though Fox wasn’t sure how long, the liquid shadow turned into dissipating green smoke or vapors, which left behind a single, full human skeleton.

“Well, the Chancellor seems quite dead,” Kenobi sighed. “I suppose we should alert the Senate that they will need to choose a new Chancellor.”

But Fox had to wonder who Maul was, and if he would be able to strike again.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what happens next. I'd like to think that, with Darth Sidious dead, everything would turn out fine, but Maul could definitely mess things up for everyone.
> 
> Comments and kudos feed the dragons!


End file.
